Which of the following workouts is more difficult?
6 x 800 in an ave of high 2:53s with 90 seconds recovery (last Tuesday)
8 x 800 in 2:57.5 with 60 seconds recovery (today)
Believe it or not, for me the 6 in high 2:53s felt harder. The point I'm trying to make is don't get stuck on the same interval routine week after week. Remember you have 4 different variables to play with- number of intervals, length of each interval, length of each rest interval, and time. The shorter rest today was tough, but I was able to maintain the slightly slower pace.
For the most part, I stick with 800 intervals, however once in a while I feel the need to drop it down to faster 400s if my progression with the 8s has slowed. (more of my thoughts on intervals here)
Weekly Summary:
Sun- 10K race, 7 miles total
Mon- 7 miles easy, 10x 100 swim
Tue- 5 miles easy, 4 miles bike
Wed- 10 miles easy
Thurs-am 6 miles including 6 x 200 meters at tempo pm: 2 miles with kids, 4 miles bike
Fri- 3 miles easy, 3 miles with some tempo
Sat- 8 x800, total 8 miles
Weekly total: 51 miles run
1,000 meters swim
8 miles bike
Note: Following the 10K race, I ran everything easy until Thursday when I started to gradually reintroduce some faster pace strides followed by Friday's little tempo run.
It must have worked because I felt strong (but not fast) today. I'm also pleased because my legs did not feel very beat up the day after that race- a positive sign that my conditioning is coming along.
I also tried a little experiment following the 8 x 800s this morning. I wanted to see if I could follow those up with 2 more 800s at 6:15 per mile pace. After a minute rest, I took off on what almost felt like a jog. Judging pace wasn't easy, but I was right on with a 3:07. I only took about 15 seconds before heading off for number 2, and actually caught myself daydreaming! As a result I slipped to 3:12 on the second one.
I'm going to keep this in mind for future workouts-I'm thinking 8 x 800s followed by 2 miles at 6:15 pace. Ouch!
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